Ohio's jobless rate declined again last month to 4.8%. The new number is the latest sign that central Ohio's job market is turning in favor of workers. The tightening labor market helps job seekers but may put a brake on growth of some individual companies.

Ohio’s jobless rate declined again last month. It’s the latest sign that central Ohio’s job market is turning in favor of workers. The tightening labor market helps job seekers but may put a brake on growth of some individual companies.

Personal Economic Turnaround

21 year old Tori Lamont of Columbus came of age during the Great Recession. As a young adult trying to make it on her own.

“I was struggling paying rent, struggling every month,” says Lamont.

For a while, Lamont waited tables. Her personal budget depended on available hours and tips. She often ran short on cash. Several months ago she landed a full time job at SK Food Group near Rickenbacker Airport.

“And now, it’s a turnaround, a complete turnaround, I was at a crossroads, I needed a job,” adds Lamont.

SK Food Group makes sandwiches and frozen food items for Panini, Starbucks and other chains.
Incentives Attract Company To Central Ohio

In return for a 10 year 55% income tax abatement, company executives promised to create 250 new jobs. Company president Steve Sposari

“We’ll exceed that,” says Sposari. “That’s probably one of the bigger challenges that we’ve been speaking to is just making sure that we have enough employees to accommodate the business we have here in Columbus.”

The Columbus plant has been in operation about six months. It supplies customers mostly east of the Mississippi River. And Sposari says he needs more workers.

“Currently we employ over 375 individuals here at our Columbus plant. We believe that our actual employment number to achieve our production goal needs to be around 600,” says Sposari.

Labor Forces

The company will have to recruit more aggressively for those workers.
Ben Johnson at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says the labor force, those working and those looking for work, is getting smaller.

“Over the last 12 months the size of Ohio’s labor force shrank by 19,000,” says Johnson.

Johnson points to an increase in retirees and fewer young people entering the job market for the smaller labor pool.

Central Ohio’s unemployment rate is below 4 percent. CPA Robert Shenton at Plante Moran says that’s near full employment for the region.

“The increased demand for workers along with a shorter supply is putting pressure on wages. And so what I think we’re seeing is the natural effect of an increase in wages in order to attract and secure talent,” says Shenton.

So far, Sposari says SK Food Group has not raised its starting pay of $10.25 to attract more potential workers.

“I think it’s pretty robust actually with where we’re at right now as far as wages,” says Sposari.

More Aggressive Recruiting

Instead, Chief Operations officer Jay Erskin is turning to those who recently lost temporary holiday jobs.

“There was quite a bit of seasonal work that we would compete directly with so I think now that as we get into 2015 things will stabilize and it’ll be somewhat easier to locate high quality associates that we want to bring,” says Erskin.

Erskin says the job market was a surprise to company officials after they decided to locate in Columbus. He says there’s a “significant amount” of competition for new workers.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2015/01/23/central-ohio-job-market-tightens-puts-pressure-wages/feed/1ohio department of job and family services,SK Food Group,unemploymentOhio's jobless rate declined again last month to 4.8%. The new number is the latest sign that central Ohio's job market is turning in favor of workers. The tightening labor market helps job seekers but may put a brake on growth of some individual compa...Ohio's jobless rate declined again last month to 4.8%. The new number is the latest sign that central Ohio's job market is turning in favor of workers. The tightening labor market helps job seekers but may put a brake on growth of some individual companies.WOSU Newsno3:11November Jobs Report Brings Lowest Unemployment Rate Since 2001http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/12/19/november-jobs-report-brings-lowest-unemployment-rate-since-2001/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/12/19/november-jobs-report-brings-lowest-unemployment-rate-since-2001/#commentsFri, 19 Dec 2014 14:59:45 +0000The Associated Presshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=84869

Ohio's official unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years after employers added naerly 18,000 jobs in November.

The fund that pays benefits to unemployed workers in Ohio is more than a billion dollars in debt to the federal government.

But there may be a fix in the works.

Most states borrowed from the feds to pay jobless benefits during the recession. Zach Schiller at the think tank Policy Matters Ohio has been studying this for years, and recently put out another warning about it.

“While we’ve reduced it somewhat, the natural financing of the unemployment system is not going to be enough to repay that debt, much less build a new reserve for the next recession,” Schiller says.

Schiller says this report is timed with the news that Republican Rep. Barbara Sears of northwest Ohio is planning to introduce legislation early next year that she says will bring in more revenue with a lower tax rate because of penalties being paid by employers.

The Department of Job and Family Services released last month’s figures on Friday morning.

The unemployment rate had held steady at 5.7 percent in July and August, then dropped to 5.6 percent for September. The Ohio unemployment rate was slightly better than the national rate, which was 5.9 percent for September.

Ohio’s unemployment rate for August is unchanged from the previous month.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released last month’s 5.7 percent unemployment rate figure Friday morning.

July’s report had showed the state’s unemployment rate at 5.7 percent, which was below the nation’s jobless rate. But Ohio’s figure was up from the seasonally adjusted rate in May and June of 5.5 percent.

Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment decreased 12,400 over July. And the number of unemployed workers in Ohio rose by 7,000 – from 316,000 in June to 323,000 in July.

This Labor Day, there are a record low number of Ohioans in the labor force – fewer than there have been since October 1978. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler talked to two economic experts who see that number – and others – in very different ways.

This Labor Day, there are a record low number of Ohioans in the labor force – fewer than there have been since October 1978.

At least two economic experts see that number, and others, in very different ways.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports just 59% of Americans 16 and over have declared that they are part of the labor force – in Ohio, that figure is just under 63 percent. That’s a 34 year low. That’s not the only thing that has the progressives at Policy Matters Ohio worried.

Amy Hanauer says the group’s annual Labor Day report also shows the state lost more than 2.3 percent of its jobs since 2005, while the country added 3.8% in that same period.

“It is nowhere near what you should see in an economic recovery. It is nowhere near what we’ve seen in past recoveries. And we have not caught up to where we were before the start of this recession – in fact, we haven’t even caught up to where we were before the previous recession,” Hanauer says.

On the other side of the political aisle, the conservative Buckeye Institute has also noted that 34 year record low labor participation number.

Policy analyst Greg Lawson says Ohio is 47th in the nation for private sector since the beginning of 1990, and that more people dropped out of labor force this spring than in any other period since the recession.

“We have done worse than the nation even in the good times – so even when we’re growing jobs, we’re always below the national average,” says Lawson.

“And then when times go bad, we really bottom out relative to the rest of the nation. So this is a real systemic problem that Ohio has.”

Hanauer and Lawson are also concerned about other numbers. Hanauer says there’s what she calls staggering inequality between the incomes of the top 1% and everyone else, and that most jobs in Ohio don’t pay a livable wage.

“Eleven of the 12 most common occupations in Ohio do not pay enough to get a family of three above 150% of the federal poverty level.”

Lawson notes that college enrollment rates are up, but are lower than the rest of the nation, and that Ohio’s disability rate is at an all-time high, above 5%, which means 93,000 more people are on disability in Ohio.

“Those folks are far less likely, statistically speaking, to get back into the labor force.”

But Hanauer and Lawson disagree strongly on what should be done to improve these numbers. The Buckeye Institute suggests policymakers enact what it calls free market reforms such as lower taxes.

Hanauer disagrees.

“That’s the prescription that we’ve been following in Ohio,” says Hanauer. “And the states that go with that approach – lower taxes, lower wages, more deference to the private sector, no regulation – what happens is that working people suffer, and then the economy as a whole suffers.”

Policy Matters suggests more investment in public education from pre-k to college. Lawson disagrees.

“They call it investment but what it really is is just spending more money. And we’ve had a history of spending more money in this state for years.

“Taxing and spending all the time is not an answer because, quite frankly, the state’s been doing that all along and the proof that’s is in the pudding is that we’ve trailed the nation for years.”

Lawson also suggests passing so-called “right to work” legislation. And Hanauer also backs more investment in transit and renewable energy, including repealing the law requiring a two-year freeze on Ohio’s clean energy standards.

Ohio’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly in July. But, the state’s labor market remains a bit brighter than the national picture.

After months of declines, Ohio’s jobless rate increased two tenths of one percent in July to 5-point-7 percent. Department of Job and Family Services spokesman Ben Johnson says fewer people were able to find jobs last months.

“The business survey showed about 12,400 fewer non-farm jobs. The household survey actually showed something very similar. It showed 13,000 fewer Ohioans working. It’s not entirely unexpected that after half a year of very significant decline we would see a month where that decline would plateau or in this case the numbers would actually move backwards a little bit,” says Johnson.

Johnson says its uncertain whether July’s unemployment increase is the start of a longer trend. Ohio’s jobless rate remains about a half per cent lower than the national jobless rate. Manufacturers and professional and business services shed the most jobs last month.

The recession may be over, but the state of Ohio still owes the federal government $1.4 billion for the money it borrowed to pay jobless benefits to unemployed Ohioans. That debt is looming large over Ohio employers, and could affect people who might get jobless benefits in the future.

The recession may be over, but the state of Ohio still owes the federal government $1.4 billion for the money it borrowed to pay jobless benefits to unemployed Ohioans.

That debt is looming large over Ohio employers â€“ and could affect people who might get jobless benefits in the future.

Last year, Ohio employers started paying more in federal unemployment taxes because the state still owes a huge debt to the feds. Ohio was among 14 states that had to borrow money to pay jobless benefits when its unemployment compensation fund went broke during the recession.

Ohio is second only to California in the money it owes, and while those increased taxes have gone back to the feds, thereâ€™s no plan in place to repay the rest. Ohio AFL-CIO president Tim Burga says that had him concerned when he heard about a new committee that House Speaker Bill Batchelder was forming to talk about the unemployment compensation debt.

Burga says he fears Republicans will only talk about the taxes businesses are paying and how to reduce them â€“ which can only mean cutting benefits.
â€œAnd thatâ€™s just wrong. Itâ€™s wrong. Itâ€™s an insult to laid-off workers. And itâ€™s an inappropriate way to deal with matters of jobs and the economy and unemployment.â€

Burga wrote to Batchelder, asking him to urge Gov. John Kasich to appoint members to the stateâ€™s Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council to deal with the issue. That council, which was created in 2000, hasnâ€™t met since he took office.

Burga had been on that Council along with Ohio Chamber of Commerce President Andy Doehrel.

â€œThe problem has just kind of sat there, in part because one political party doesnâ€™t want to talk about slashing benefits and another political party doesnâ€™t want to talk about raising employer taxes, and those are the two things you have to do to solve the problem,” Burga says.

Doehrel says before the recession, the council that he and Burga both sat on made recommendations for an increase in business and a reduction in worker benefits to back up the fund, but the General Assembly didnâ€™t go along.

Doehrel says the situation hasnâ€™t reached a crisis, but heâ€™s concerned that it will, since business taxes go up every year that the debt remains unpaid.

A new study showâ€™s Ohio is performing above average in its economic recovery. A report by the Center for Business and Economic Research gives the state a B+ in manufacturing growth.

Mike Hicks heads the economic research center at Ball State University in Indiana.

â€œI have a very positive prognosis for Ohioâ€™s future manufacturing,” Hicks says.

His study graded the health of each stateâ€™s manufacturing industry by looking at the tax climate, how well workers are treated, productivity and innovation, and other factors.

Hicks says a big contributor to Ohioâ€™s high grade is logistics â€“ the ability to move goods and raw materials in and out of the state over rail, water, and roads.

One of Ohioâ€™s biggest challenges is retaining an educated workforce â€“ what economists call human capital. Hicks says part of the brain drain problem is attracting todayâ€™s workers to Ohioâ€™s aging urban centers.

â€œThe human capital story is as much the quality of place story as it is the educational attainment of adults.â€

But Hicks says signs are positive that Ohio could attain an A grade. Assessments of standardized test scores of kids still in school show that Ohioâ€™s human capital is ready for the demands of modern manufacturing. The challenge, he says, is keeping them here.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/06/23/ohio-gets-b-manufacturing/feed/0jobs,manufacturing,ohio,unemploymentOhio gets an above-average grade in a study that grades the health of each stateâ€™s manufacturing industry by looking at the tax climate, productivity, and other factors.Ohio gets an above-average grade in a study that grades the health of each stateâ€™s manufacturing industry by looking at the tax climate, productivity, and other factors.WOSU Newsno1:13